Potable liquids, such as water, milk and assorted other beverages, are commonly served from pitchers, jugs, mugs, steins and the like. Open-top spouted pitcher constructions are generally preferred. An open top pitcher has no lid or cover to interfere with filling the pitcher with liquid or with cleaning. Spouted pitchers typically have a projecting pouring spout that directs the delivery of the liquid from the pitcher. A lipless spout is an outlet, such as a notch or cut out opening, that provides in effect a spout having no projecting lip features typically associated with projecting spouts.
Frequently potable liquids must be carried or moved for some distance for service, especially in commercial establishments, restaurants and institutional kitchens. During such transport, splashing or sloshing of the liquid contents in the pitcher occurs resulting in undesirable and unsanitary spillage.
Until now, spillage of liquid from an open-top pitcher could be overcome only by resorting to covering the pitcher. However, covers and lids are less convenient and less sanitary than open-top pitchers. The lids must be removed or lifted for filling the pitcher, and for serving the contents of the pitcher. Consequently, such lids and covers are usually hinged and harder to sanitize, thereby presenting crevices where germs or soil can accumulate.
Another problem is that most potable liquids are usually iced with cubed or chipped ice, sometimes fruited as with sliced fruits or even foamed. Consequently, spout guards restricting all or some delivery of ice, fruit, foam or the like are sometimes desirable, necessary or both.
Where iced liquid is desired, lids and covers interfere. Some past attempts have been made to provide lids having selective openings that provide a choice between free flowing delivery of both ice and liquid, or ice-free delivery. For ice-free service, openings incorporate ice guards that restrict ice flow. Some of these lid designs are also rotatable for open and closed positions. However, none of these lid constructions overcome the inconvenience and sanitation problems discussed above.
Thus open-top pitchers continue to be generally preferred. In some open-top pitchers, ice guards have been incorporated in the lips of projecting pouring spouts to restrict ice flow. However, this type of ice lip construction limits the usefulness of the pitcher. As a result, where iced liquid is desired, the server must serve it from such a pitcher by pouring liquid from the side of the pitcher. This type of service results in a generally non-directional, uncontrolled flow of liquid and much undesirable spillage.
Some past attempts have been made to overcome this problem by providing multiple spouts in open-top pitchers. In these past designs, one spout incorporates an ice guard while a side spout extends outwardly for the rest of the pitcher. While these multi-spouted pitchers give the server a choice of delivering iced or ice-free liquid, they do not overcome the spilling problems associated with open top pitchers. In fact, the outwardly projecting side spout increases the amount of spillage.
Thus, considerable attention has been given in the past to the design of a variety of spout and handle designs for open-top pitchers used for serving potable liquid. In spite of this, however, none of the prior open-top pitcher constructions overcomes the problem of spillage. Such spillage is typically induced when an open-top pitcher is carried, moved or tilted slightly in transit and service.
There is a need, therefore, for a open-top serving pitcher that incorporates the spill-resistent benefit of a covered pitcher without the accompanying inconvenience and sanitation problems. An ideal pitcher would also offer the benefits of a multi-spouted pitcher in giving the server a choice of ice-free or iced liquid delivery. To resolve the difficulties discussed above, this invention provides such a pitcher.